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This week’s episode of LOST, titled “Sundown,” gave viewers much to think about. We learn why Dogen came to the Island, but we don’t know how long he has been there. We learn about Sayid’s off-Island “reality,” but are left wondering what kind of person he is in the end. There are lots of ideas to delve into, so dive in with me, won’t you?

Four hours into the new season of LOST, and the mysteries just keep on coming. Of course, mysteries lead to new theories, which I enjoy concocting when I have time on my hands (something that I’ve had precious little of in the last month, sadly). If you’re not a fan of LOST, or not a fan of my writing when it’s unrelated to sports, take heart: I’ll post something Yankees-related soon, now that pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training. And, if you’re not a fan of my writing at all…what are you doing here?

I’ve been vacationing near Narragansett, RI for a few days now, and loving it. I don’t want to leave. Maybe, somewhere in my mind, I never will.

Even on vacation though, my mind wanders and I need to jot things down, or else they’ll vanish forever.

OMG! Reading is fundamental!

–Today, on the beach, I noticed a young woman was reading LA Candy, the novel from Lauren Conrad, who, like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Perez Hilton, and loads of other people out there, is famous without doing anything of substance.

This woman at the beach was maybe in her early 20s. She had a belly ring, a tramp stamp, and was on some mobile device a half-dozen times. She was on a blanket right near us. Walking to and from the water with a bucket full of water for my kids 50 or so times, I had little choice but to notice.

I have no idea who this young woman is, whether or not she’s smart, or has a good job (she’s on the beach on a Tuesday…with her friends…anything’s possible I guess…), or is having one last hurrah before going back to school.

But, if I were single and 10 years younger let’s say, based on outward appearacnes, I’d look the other way. I’d be a little jealous though. It would be nice to have an uncluttered, empty mind, I guess.

I will say this, though. It is nice to see that Lauren Conrad, like Dan Brown and countless other best-selling authors, is helping her fans rediscover literacy. Good for her.

Some thoughts of mine that, by themselves, aren’t worth an entire article, but are worth commenting on…

Classic Brett...before he sullied his legacy.

Brett Favre: He had a great career with the Green Bay Packers and should have retired following the Packers’ loss to the New Jersey Giants in the 2007-08 NFC Championship Game.

His single year with the New Jersey Jets produced exactly zero memorable moments, and the “will-he-or-won’t-he” dance about whether or not he would suit up in each of the last two years was tiresome.

Sadly, I don’t think this is the end of Brett Favre. After all, Michael Jordan retired three times. Compared to MJ, Brett’s got one more “un-retirement” left.

Michael Vick: I would like to think that teams are not blacklisting Vick, as Jesse Jackson claims. He’s been out of the NFL for two years and, when he was in the league, he wasn’t the best QB by any statistical measure.

If an average starting QB retired and then decided to come back after a two-year layoff, during which he didn’t play football or stayed in football shape, he probably wouldn’t be immediately signed by a team. He’d be forced to convince a team through an open tryout or something similar.

Vick will play professional football again. Just because he hasn’t signed immediately, and because many teams have said they aren’t currently interested in him, doesn’t mean the guy is being discriminated against because of the nature of his crime or his race. I think he has to prove himself, on and off the field, before someone commits to him.

When I first finished reading “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” years ago, I was taken aback by the death of Albus Dumbledore, and by the apparent treachery of Severus Snape who had, by all previous appearances, been the bad guy turned good.

Half Good, Half Bad, Half Blood Prince

Between Snape’s murderous spell and the discovery of a fake Horcrux at the end of the book, it left fans of the series wanting more, with a two-year wait until the last book in the series came out.

The movie version of the book left me only wanting to leave the theater.

I am not going to gripe about added scenes or deleted scenes, because the movies are adaptations of books, not blow-by-blow recapturings.

My main problem with the film was that it left the subtlety aside and instead assumed the audience was clueless.

I wasn’t going to write anything about Michael Jackson, but the longer his passing has lasted in the news, the more I’ve felt like I should put something up here, just in case one or two of his legions of fans happen to read the blog.

As the days have worn on, it seems as though the media is glossing over the accusations levied against Jackson for child molestation and other sordid activities. To me, what he did to those children and their families far overshadows his music career.

It doesn’t help that the recent coverage has been centered on celebrity reactions, rememberances from fans, etc.

Has any media outlet interviewed one of the families that Jackson settled with outside of court to get their reaction?

It’s a shame he died young. It’s also a shame that the last 15 years of his life were spent dodging claims, giving families hush money, and living his life in seclusion because of increasingly strange behavior, addiction to drugs, and various undisclosed health problems.

“Off the Wall” and ‘Thriller” were landmark albums. I listen to the “Jackson 5 Christmas Album” every December. The guy was sensational when he was young, but I lost a lot of respect for him as the “stuff” overshadowed the music.

In the last three weeks, I’ve had a lot going on with work, and it has gotten in the way of writing. Thankfully, that is done for a while, so I can give the blog some attention again.

While I wasn’t writing, I did keep an eye on the goings-on in the world of sports and entertainment (to a lesser extent). Here’s my take on a few things:

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers won a championship without Shaquille O’Neal

Kobe Bryant did something recently that Michael Jordan was never able to do: win a championship without a Hall of Famer caliber teammate.

Pau Gasol is a nice player. He was an All-Star this year, and deservedly so. He is one of the best interior players in the league right now, at a time when interior play has fallen off considerably. Gasol certainly is a valuable player. However, from a historical standpoint, he is not Hall of Fame caliber.

Each of Jordan’s six titles with the Chicago Bulls came with Scottie Pippen providing assistance. Pippen, like Jordan, was named one of the NBA’s best 50 players back in 1996. While more great players have joined the league in the 13 years since that list came out, Pippen’s standing hasn’t changed one iota. He will be a Hall of Famer someday soon.

Dennis Rodman won three titles with Jordan and Pippen, and retired as the top rebounder of his generation. It is likely that he, too, will be in the Basketball Hall of Fame someday.

Kobe didn’t win the NBA Finals by himself, but he certainly didn’t have Hall of Fame-worthy help.

Pittsburgh Penguins Win Stanley Cup In Thrilling Game Seven

I gave up on the NHL when the Hartford Whalers moved to Raleigh. I did watch some of game seven of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals because it was a game seven, and for no other reason.

If the NHL were smart, they’d find a way to capitalize on this year’s great playoffs. Of course, if they were smart, the Whalers would still be in Hartford, and the NHL would have the promotional power of ESPN behind it, rather than working against it.

The seventh (!) season of “24” comes to a close tonight, and I’m torn as to what I think of this season.

Clearly, the show has embraced the idea of throwing plausibility out the window and just doing straight-ahead action.

Tony Alemdia is back from the dead? And he’s bad?

My first thought on this was that it was going to be awful. How is Tony’s return going to be explained? Why in the world would he be an adversary to Jack?

Instead, I’ve adjusted to the ridiculousness of Tony’s return by embracing the increased explosions and car chases that have covered up shoddy storytelling. Season 7 has worked, by and large. While I enjoyed the show more in previous seasons because it involved some thinking and careful watching for twists and turns, the action this season was the best it’s ever been.

Still, there’s a part of me that enjoyed the “real time” aspect of things. Also, in the past, if you missed an episode you may have missed something important. Now, the first five minutes of each episode is almost like a review of what’s taken place. It’s like ’24’ for Dummies, at times.

Each of the last five years, the night of the season finale of “LOST” has brought me both excitement and disappointment.

Excitement, to see how the writers and producers of the show stretch the mythology of The Island and the characters that inhabit it.

Disappointment because, after the finale, it will be several months until the best show on television is back on.

The fifth season of “LOST” has been memorable, but needs to go out with a bang, I think. And based on the show’s title “The Incident,” one would think that viewers will witness an important and possibly violent event that affects The Dharma Initiative and The Island.